Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Gibbard District announced Touch of Wellness will be its first commercial tenant during an open house held recently in the former furniture factory’s sales office.
Exact opening dates aren’t known but once construction is complete the spa will amalgamate its Centre Street and Dundas Street location into one central home inside the Gibbard District.
“We’re going to be moving the spa from where we are now, we’ve kind of outgrown that space,” said Touch of Wellness owner Joanne Burke. “We were one building and now we’re two. We had an opportunity to put everything in one space and be in one location. We’re excited about the opportunity for parking with no stairs and this (Gibbard District) venue is going to be amazing. We’ll be able to offer more services to our guests. We’re looking forward to it.”
The bigger space will allow them to expand their services.
“We’re looking to put in a eucalyptus room and some different services and expand our medical spa which is already growing and our salon and Aveda spa as well,” added Burke.
She says she hasn’t decided what she’ll do with the building she owns on Centre Street once the move is complete.
As for the Gibbard District project as a whole, the first steps towards the construction of the twin condo buildings, which will house 137 living units, commercial units and a piazza have begun.
“We started bringing it down,” Nate Doornekamp of Doornekamp Construction, the developer of the Gibbard District said of the work that has begun on the old building. “Sales are in a good place, the town has been incredible to work with as we transition out of the old council which was great and into the new council, they’ve picked up where the old council left off. Staff has been great, we have no complaints.”
He also offered a projected timeline as to when he hopes to have the first tenants start to move in to their new home.
“Right now we’re talking the late part of 2021,” said Doornekamp. “It’s all predicated on sales. But we’re bringing it down for a reason because this summer and into the fall we want to be doing some building and get outside the demo.”
In the meantime the building has already seen some usage from various community groups.
“We have recently opened the sales centre up to various community groups to use it for community space,” said Doornekamp. “The BIA had their AGM here the other night. Some local sales agents have had their team meetings here, just opening up some really positive community space on this end of town.”